


Misdirection

by callmeessex



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Busking, First Meetings, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Third Person Limited, Pickpockets, Strangers to Lovers, Street & Stage Magic, Theft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-01-23 15:39:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18552733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callmeessex/pseuds/callmeessex
Summary: Mollymauk Tealeaf is a street magician, and at one of his shows he notices two figures to the back of his audience. One of them steals a wallet. Mollymauk intervenes.





	1. Chapter 1

The best performances, in Mollymauk’s opinion, are ones in which he’s managed to capture the audience’s undivided attention. There have been bad shows, of course-- ones where he hadn’t shuffled the deck quite right or had a stray pair of eyes see exactly what he’d done with his hands, completely ruining his tricks. But to successfully pull of a particularly trick despite the countless sets of eyes watching his every move fills him with some sort of pride in knowing that he’s good at what he does. Times like this, though, he can’t help but wish that the audience would look away, for even just a moment, so they might see for themselves that something was wrong.

Mollymauk had spotted the pair earlier, they had been some of the first people to join the growing crowd around his performance. He really only began to grow suspicious when they made a point of staying to the back of the group as it continued to grow, rather than keeping their front row spots for themselves. It was only when Mollymauk saw one of them slip a wallet out of one of the women’s purses that he was absolutely certain that something was wrong.

The one that had taken the wallet was scruffy, unshaven, and had a full head of dirty, rust-colored hair. He wore a short brown jacket with a fur-lined collar, and much like his hair, it was caked in a layer of dirt and grime. From what Mollymauk could see, it was almost as if the man hadn’t had access to a laundromat in several weeks. Mollymauk was also able to catch a glimpse of some fingerless gloves the pickpocket was wearing as he slid the poor woman’s wallet into a pocket on the inside of his jacket.

“A’right folks,” Mollymauk proclaims, fitting his deck of cards back into its box and then slipping it into an inside pocket of his own technicolor stage coat, “I’m going to need a set of volunteers for this last trick, if anyone feels so inclined?”

Most hands raise into the air, all except for the two pickpockets. Mollymauk takes a second to take note of the second one: a woman of particularly short stature, with long black hair that’s been pulled into two braids, and who is currently eyeing up the impression of a phone in another man’s back pocket.

“You, sir!” Mollymauk exclaims, pointing a jeweled finger at the pickpocket in the brown jacket. The man freezes where he stands, fingers clenching from where they’re hidden away by his folded arms. He spares a glance sideways, most likely looking for his small companion, but Mollymauk doubts he’d be able to see her from where he’s stood. The man finally meets his gaze, pointing back at himself with a thumb and mouthing ‘me?’. “Yes, you, the man in the lovely brown coat. Would you please step forward, dear?”

The man’s lips purse as he heaves a sigh through his nose, but his gaze never falters. I see your game, his eyes are saying. Mollymauk doesn’t drop his stare, either. Good, he hopes his eyes are saying, I saw yours too. The man does end up stepping forward into the circle, and Mollymauk almost feels guilty for bringing him this amount of unwanted attention as he watches the man curl inward under the weight of the audience’s persistent gaze. Once they’re close enough to each other, Mollymauk extends a hand.

“What shall I call you then, sir?” Mollymauk grins and his jewelry glitters against his tanned skin. The man glances at Mollymauk’s outstretched hand, and Mollymauk swears that he’s inspecting the watch he’s wearing. Instead of accepting the handshake, the man puts his hands in his pockets, and Mollymauk lets the hand drop.

“Caleb.”

“Well, Mr. Caleb, I thank you most sincerely for your help. I do, however need one more volunteer.”

Hands shoot skyward from all around the circle, and thankfully for Mollymauk, so does the hand of the woman whose wallet is currently tucked away into Caleb’s jacket. Mollymauk calls her forward and has her stand next to Caleb. Mollymauk watches all of Caleb’s body tense and he shakes the woman’s hand.

“What’s your name, dear?”

“Julia.”

“A beautiful name, really. Thank you, Ms. Julia for your participation!”

Mollymauk calls for a round of applause for his two brave volunteers, and as the audience claps he places a hand on each of his volunteers shoulders. Caleb is still tense under his fingers, so Mollymauk gives his shoulder a light pat before dropping the hand. He’ll be needing it free, anyway.

“For this trick, I’ll be needing for you two to establish a line of contact,” Mollymauk says as he steps backwards, “Let’s have you place a hand on each other’s shoulder-- yes, just like that.” Mollymauk guides Julia’s hand to Caleb’s shoulder, and then does the same with Caleb’s hand to hers. Mollymauk continues, “Now, I will be needing you both to keep those hands there for the remainder of the trick. Think you can do that for me? Act like you’re friends.” Julia meets Caleb’s eyes and she laughs, likely at the ridiculousness of their situation, and Mollymauk catches the guilt hidden behind Caleb’s polite smile. Good.

Mollymauk starts to pace in circles around his volunteers. On the first rotation he notices Caleb’s friend with the braids. She’s stood in the middle of the crowd now, and she’s wringing her hands tightly together. Also good. At least her hands won’t be anywhere they shouldn’t be.

“Does anyone here believe in teleportation?” Mollymauk asks the audience. On his next pass around, Mollymauk slips his fingers into Caleb’s back pocket and draws back with Caleb’s wallet in his hand. He isn’t practiced at this sort of thing, and it shows in the way Caleb’s gaze shoots upwards to meet his. But Mollymauk isn’t trying to necessarily impress Caleb. Not really. And luckily for Mollymauk, Caleb’s already done the hard part of the trick for him: getting Julia’s wallet from her purse into Caleb’s jacket without alerting her to that fact. What Mollymauk is good at, however, is making sure the audience only sees what he wants them to see.

“Well, I do. I happen to believe in it so much, ladies and gents, that I’m willing to risk my reputation by attempting it here, for your enjoyment! That’s right!” With a twirl and a flash of color, he has captured the audience’s total attention once again, and he is able to slide Caleb’s wallet into Julia’s purse. Mollymauk does one more circle around his volunteers before stopping at their side.

“What we will be trying to do is-- not move a whole person, sorry, I’m not that good-- we’ll be trying to move something smaller. We’ll figure it out in the moment, but it has to be something both of you have on your person at this point in time-- like a cellphone, or a ring of keys, even a tube of chapstick, I’m not too terribly picky. I need you both to think of an item like that. Do you have one?”

Julia looks to Mollymauk and nods enthusiastically, and Caleb gives a smaller nod and a slightly bigger sigh.

“Wonderful, fantastic,” Mollymauk chirps, “Now that you both have this item in your head-- and do not tell me what it is, just think about it, okay?-- we can begin to teleport this item from your person, to your partner here. Are you ready?” Julia assents with a ‘yup’ and a nod, and Caleb just hums, refusing to meet anyone’s gazes but the floor.

“What about you, audience, are you ready!” Mollymauk shouts, and the crowd cheers. The crowd seems to have grown from when he last took note of it, and Caleb looks as though he wants to shrivel up under all the extra attention. Better wrap this up, then.

“On the count of three, I’m going to teleport Mr, Caleb’s and Ms. Julia’s chosen items from where they are now into each other’s possession. Ready? Okay… 3… 2… 1…!”

In a flash, Mollymauk places a hand on each of his volunteers’ shoulders and pushes them apart, forcing them to release each others’ shoulders. There is no applause, because there is no spectacle. People shift from one foot to another, and they wait for something to happen. They are quiet.

“Now,” Mollymauk says, turning on the spot to address the full audience, “I know that didn’t look like much, but I absolutely promise that magic just happened. Ms. Julia, would you please tell the audience and I what item you had in mind?”

“I was thinking of my wallet”

“Your wallet, I see, a very good choice. Mr. Caleb, what about you? Speak loudly now, please.”

“...My wallet.”

Some people in the audience laugh.

“A wallet as well, Mr. Caleb? No shame in that, you know, great minds think alike. Would you please pull out your wallet for me, then, dear?”

Caleb takes a moment to suck on his tongue, and then reaches for the pocket on the inside of his jacket without even pretending to search for where his wallet would actually be. As Caleb pulls out Julia’s wallet, some people gasp, others laugh, but most applaud.

“Now, Mr. Caleb, this looks a bit like a women’s wallet. I mean, I’m certainly in no position to judge, but I have a feeling that it isn’t particularly your style. Ms. Julia, what do you think?”

Julia is giggling, hands brought up to cup her cheeks. “That’s my wallet!” she says. Caleb extends his hand out slowly, and he lets Julia reclaim her wallet from his grasp.

Mollymauk feigns a gasp. “Is it now? Well then, what are the chances you’d be carrying a certain something of Mr. Caleb’s?” Julia immediately pats down the pockets of her jeans, and then fumbles around in her purse. She laughs again, and when she draws back her hand, she’s holding a small, worn black wallet.

The audience applauds again, and Mollymauk grins as Caleb accepts his wallet from Julia. “Let’s give another round of applause for our daring volunteers!” Mollymauk exclaims, and the dying applause starts up again. “That’ll be all for this show, thank you all for sticking around! Thank you!”

The final round of applause begins to die out, and the crowd begins to disperse in every which direction. For a second, Mollymauk loses sight of Caleb, but finds him again standing next to the smaller pickpocket who is, thankfully, empty-handed. The two of them are engaged in a hushed conversation, facing away from Mollymauk, so it isn’t surprising that they dont notice his approach until he’s right next to them.

“Would you two mind too terribly if I bought you both a lunch? I’d like a word.”


	2. Chapter 2

It was in the moments just after their drinks were set in front of them that the magician broke the silence.

“Quite the stunt you two pulled back there,” he says, a smirk playing on his lips as he sets his glass back on the table. That seemed to be a common thing for the magician, as if the only facial expression he was capable of making was a smirk-- coy, knowing or otherwise.

Nott huffs from beside Caleb, and he turns to see her eyebrows and nose drawn in and upwards. “I would hardly call it a stunt. It isn’t as if we were trying to call attention to ourselves,” she says, almost as if the idea had scandalized her. At the same time, Caleb watches as she purposefully eyes the magician’s multicolored coat, which had been folded up and nicely placed on the seat beside the man.

The magician chuckles and scratches an itch on the side of his nose with a long, manicured fingernail. “Fair point. I can imagine that any attention at all would be counter-productive for…” the magician pauses, taking a moment to peer over at them, and Caleb wonders what it is he’s looking at. He can’t help but feel like squirming under the man’s gaze. “Well,” the magician continues, “I suppose it would make things difficult in your line of work. Besides, that’s what I was for, right?” The magician takes another sip of his drink, and there’s that damn smirk again. There’s a knowing glint to the man’s eyes that has Caleb tightening his hands around his own cup.

“You two needed a distraction in order to get away with your plan, and I don’t think there are many better distractions than a cocky street magician wearing Joseph’s technicolor dreamcoat,” the magician says, gesturing to himself. Even without the coat on, the magician was still the most colorful person Caleb had ever seen. Back home, the people there tended towards more simple wardrobes and had very little to do with anything austentatious. The magician, however, wore his shirt only half buttoned, leaving his expanse of tattoos on full display. They covered his arms all the way down to the wrists, and some beautifully intricate peacock feathers creeped up his neck and onto his cheek. Caleb felt that the look rather suited the magician, but shivered at the idea of ever being so conspicuous.

“Why did you ask for us to come here,” Caleb asks finally, and the magician pays him his full attention. Caleb’s insides turn under the weight of his eyes. “If you wanted to report us, you would have done it earlier, and I can hardly imagine you would bring us here for some friendly conversation.”  
The magician chuckles as their food is placed in front of them. Nott immediately digs into her sandwich, but Caleb keeps his hands wrapped around his drink. “I’m still not going to report you, if that’s what you’re thinkin’,” says the magician.

“Why not?” Nott asks around a mouthful of sandwich, and caleb only briefly looks away from the magician to hand her a napkin.

“Well, for starters, no one likes a narc,” the magician smirks, and Nott’s head bobs in agreement. “And secondly, I was hoping you two teach me a thing or two.”

Nott pauses mid-bite and Caleb’s breath gets caught in his chest. “M’sorry?” Nott says through a fit of disbelieving laughter, while at the same time Caleb sputters, “I- you wa- what?”

“I would like you to teach me,” the magician repeats, taking a bite of his own sandwich, “y’know, how to nick a watch. Or a wallet. Or a phone.”

“You would like us to teach you?” Caleb gapes. This can’t be right. “You just finished humiliating us in front of a whole crowd, and you expect us to teach you?”

The magician closes his eyes as he sighs, setting down his food and interlacing his fingers on the tabletop. “Mr. Caleb-”

“Just Caleb.”

“...Well, Caleb, I apologize for what happened at the show. I see now how much you seem to want to avoid the spotlight, and I’m very sorry for drawing you into it. However, I do not apologize for returning the wallet. I can recognize that what you two do likely comes from a place of necessity, but it doesn’t sit right with me to sit back and allow it to happen. So, instead of just calling the police, I’d like to turn this into a positive experience. Maybe we could use your skills for something good?”

Caleb is taken aback by the sincerity of the magician’s statement. The man’s dropped his smirk, and his entire face has relaxed except for his set jaw. Despite the fact that the magician has given him his undivided attention, Caleb’s skin doesn’t prickle. Caleb even finds that he can return the gaze without issue.

“Why?” Caleb asks, and he can feel the tension leaving his shoulders, “What makes you want to learn how to pick pockets?”

The magician smirks again, smaller and less for show. He leans back into his seat, draping an arm across its back. “Well, I’m not particularly good at slide-of-hand work. I’m sure you noticed during the performance-- I’m just surprised that no one else in the crowd did. I’m more familiar with card tricks, but it wouldn’t hurt to expand my repertoire, don’t you think?”

Caleb nods, and mumbles a quiet ‘sure’, but Nott leans in with her hands planted flat on the table. “What’s in it for us?” she demands.

“For you?” the magician chuckles, “Well, I could totally just blackmail the both of you into it, but I figured we’d stay on better terms if I compensate you for your time.”

Nott immediately perks up. “You’ll pay us?”

“Yes.”

Nott turns to Caleb and leans in to whisper, “What do you think?” Caleb glances back at the magician, who has turned his attention in the opposite direction, presumably giving the two of them some semblance privacy. Caleb turns back to Nott.

“I don’t trust this man,” he whispers.

“Neither do I,” Nott pauses to glance at the magician over Caleb’s shoulder, “but, you know… money’s money.”

“Money is money,” Caleb concurs with a nod, “Is this something we really want to do, though?”

Nott scratches at her cheek, before meeting Caleb’s eyes. “I’m game if you are?”

Caleb nods again, and they both sit up. At their movement, the magician turns to face them once more. He rests his chin in his hand and his mouth quirks into another smirk, this one more broad and full of more of his original boldness.

“We’ll do it,” Caleb says, and the magician laughs.

“Fantastic!” the magician exclaims, his energy returning all at once. He extends a hand out towards the two of them, and Caleb shakes it. “Simply wonderful. Very happy to be doing business with you, Mr. Caleb.”

“And you as well, Mr…?” Caleb trails off, slowly realizing he had never gotten the magician’s name.

“Oh! Christ, where are my manners?” the magician gasps, “The name’s Mollymauk Tealeaf, Molly to friends.”

“Caleb Widogast,” Caleb says, dropping Mollymauk’s hand with a final firm shake. Mollymauk immediately offers the same hand to Nott.

“What shall I call you, then?” Nott takes a moment to eye the hand, before finally reaching over to take it in hers.

“Nott.”

“Nott! Another unique name, I like it. Any last name to go with that?”

“Just Nott.”

“Ok, Just Nott it is.”

Mollymauk’s enthusiasm proves to be infectious, because Nott’s nose crinkles as she smiles, and Caleb feels a small grin creep onto his own face. Mollymauk draws his hand back and reaches for his coat. He shifts through his pockets for a moment and draws back with a card. At first, Caleb thinks that it’s another one of his playing cards, but when he hands it to Caleb, he can see writing across the white side where the suit should be.

“That’s my business card,” Mollymauk explains, gathering his coat into his lap, “Call the number and we can set up a date if you’re still interested. Considering that I’m the one dragging the two of you into this, I’m happy to work to your schedule.”

Caleb nods, “Ja, okay. We will let you know. Thank you, Mr. Mollymauk”  
Mollymauk grins wider, “No, thank you, Mr. Caleb.”

**Author's Note:**

> a very quick thank you to my best friends and beta readers, @EclecticSorcerer and @healyourheart on ao3
> 
> thank you all for your lovely comments and kudos!
> 
> -aengus


End file.
